subject: Wrapped Or Unwrapped? [print this page] I often find myself leaning toward the off position (its the purist in me) but its just so incredibly pleasing to see your stogies neatly placed in your humidor, au-natural. But this makes you think. If storing your stogies naked is optimal, then why do manufacturers bother wrapping them? As with any debate there are pros, cons and myth involved on both sides.
Why Wrap?
Cellophane protects your stogies from you and other cigars. It is desirable because stogies secrete oil. If you are not careful this oil could mix with other cigars, which could drastically affect the characteristics of your prized sticks. This process can be beneficial if you have the same cigars stored together, but when you place different cigars in the same humidor it is generally a bad idea to unwrap them.
Leaving a cigar wrapped is also beneficial because it protects against damage. When you handle a cigar that is unwrapped, you remove some oils from the wrapper (meaning the outer leaves of the cigar) each time. If you handle cigars too often, you just might end up harming them.
Cellophane also protects your stogies if you want to carry them around with you. If you throw some in your shirt pocket, say, before leaving for the golf course, you might want to keep the cellophane on as it will keep the wrapper (again meaning the outer leaves) from tearing due to wear-and-tear and friction.
There is one very large misconception about cellophanethat it does not allow for proper humidification of your cigars. This is utterly false! Cellophane allows for adequate humidity to saturate your stogies within a humidor, keeping your cigars at a desired humidity, because it is porous. It also allows for adequate levels of air to circulate each cigars.
Why Unwrap?
After discussing the reasons for leaving the cellophane on, you might be wondering why you might actually take it off. Honest truth, there are many good reasons why some people also store their cigars without the wrapper.
As mentioned before, if you are storing only one brand of cigar in a humidor unwrapping may be beneficial, as it will allow the oils from all the cigars to mix well and may allow the bunch to maximize flavor distribution.
If you want to age your stogies the cellophane can inhibit the aging process by nearly 50%. Even though it is porous it still limits airflow around the stogie, which in turn slows down the aging process.
We always want to keep the best possible climate for our cigars. Cellophane unfortunately does not help here. In the regulation process, a cigar absorbs and transmits humidity; cellophane can slow this process in your humidor. Cellophane is quite like a screen doorit allows for air flow, but decreases the amount that flows inside.
A few little tips:
What do you do if you unwrap a few cigars but then later decide you want to carry them somewhere with you? Just place each stogie in its own sandwich baggie and youre set! Dont store them this way in your humidor though.
Some will leave the wrapper on during storage and remove it about a week or two before smoking the cigar. This may give you the best of both worlds.
There you have them, pros and cons for each side. One last piece of advice: the only way to figure out which plan is better for you is to determine what you actually want to do with your stogies!
